FIFA 16 carries off the television style presentation that the series is known for

Ultimate Team can prove incredibly frustrating, as there'll be games where you'll have three times as many chances as your opponent only to lose 0-1. This is why you need to invest a significant sum in a top quality striker. Press the slide tackle button again after your player has begun his slide to make him get back to his feet. This is a great way to recover from a missed challenge, and keep your defender close to the ball and not give away easy scoring opportunities. It is a lot harder to score spectacular goals in FIFA 16 and this in turn can make proceedings a bit boring at times. In fact, things feel safe and predictable for most of the time, particularly as you can see where the ball is going to be passed or fall every time it’s hit. Additionally, through all the time I’ve played FIFA 16, I don’t think I’ve scored a goal I will remember, with most being pretty simple affairs.

Actually scoring a goal now requires a lot more of a feel for handling the ball - if you try to rush it too much, the only people cheering are going to be the other team’s fans, or maybe the ball boy. On the other hand, the AI doesn’t really seem to know how to react to shots that ricochet off the goal posts, often resulting in a second chance. And the various difficulty levels means that each player can adjust things to their own skill level before the match begins. The other focus and change this year is in defense. EA stated before the release that they had put a lot of work into defending AI and this shows. We found it much more difficult to score (rather than just powering through the defense, we had to find skillful openings) and the goalkeepers are near impossible to beat on even the moderate difficulties. This is a game that will make you fight for your goals and make you think about how you are shooting. Just running through and shooting will not cut it this year.

Of course, one of the most talked-about additions to the game before its release was the presence of women’s teams for the first time in FIFA. Unfortunately, this feature is a lot more restricted than we initially thought. Women’s international teams can only be used in the tournament and free play modes, so, they feel like a contained subsection of the main game, rather than something which has been fully integrated. A glaring example of this is the absence of the ability to create a female player in Career Mode. However, I presume that we will see more integration with other game modes in FIFA 17, as I presume the addition of women’s teams is quite a big undertaking from a development perspective. It is also apparent that not a lot of time was spent on creating player models for the female players, as they sport significantly less detail than their male counterparts. This is disappointing as the game looks stunning in every other way.

FIFA 16 carries off the television style presentation that the series is known for, with great aplomb. The production values are as good as they should be, effectively mimicking how the beautiful game is broadcasted. Furthermore, EA Sports' Ignite engine brings the game to life in fantastic style. Everything is very lifelike - from realistically capturing how the players look to their animations on the pitch. On the other hand, FIFA 16's recalculation of player ratings now places less importance on player speed, and makes substitutions and formations a bigger point of consideration. However for most part, this just means that you'll find yourself playing the same formation and team composition for almost every game.

So while FIFA 16 doesn’t quite hit all the high notes with its gameplay changes, it’s still damn fun. On the plus side, it’s far from just an annual update; the presentation and modes alone are pushing the genre even further. I’m still managing to lose hours and hours on it and that is a sure fire sign of success. It’s certainly a better overall package than PES 2016, even if the football is a bit scrappy. I’m sure EA won’t mind that.